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Landmarks

ah59396

By ah59396
in Charlotte Coffee House

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ah59396 Town

ah59396

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Do we have a landmark?  In your opinion, what would it be?  Is there a legit landmark in Charlotte that a layman in Des Moines may see on television and say "oh look honey, they are filming this in Charlotte today"...

 

 

And if we don't have a true landmark, what would you like to see us have?  St. Louis has the arch, Dublin has the spire, Brussels has a little boy peeing.  Go!

 

 

 

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Urbanity Burg

Urbanity

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I'm going by "landmark" with the understanding that it something people outside the city are conditioned to seeing and thinking of Charlotte. In that case I really don't think we have a true landmark. The closest is the Duke tower because of its visibility during NFL games and the Queen Charlotte statue at the airport.

I would love to have something like the Queen Charlotte statue (though larger) inside the 277 loop which would then be a photography dream of her juxtaposed against the skyline.

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15895 City

15895

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Do we have a landmark? In your opinion, what would it be? Is there a legit landmark in Charlotte that a layman in Des Moines may see on television and say "oh look honey, they are filming this in Charlotte today"...

And if we don't have a true landmark, what would you like to see us have? St. Louis has the arch, Dublin has the spire, Brussels has a little boy peeing. Go!

It depends. I'm not sure many people could pick out landmarks in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, LA, etc. I'd be curious to know if many people know the arch is in St. Louis. Or the space needle is in Seattle.

I'd like to see a significant, very large sculpture of Queen Charlotte in downtown somewhere. Maybe a park that's sort of like a maze with with lots of flowers and landscaping with the sculpture in the middle or something :) I think that'd be cool.

Maybe a museum in the shape of a royal castle with A large statue of Charlotte set back from the street with a large plaza, water features and lots of flowers and interactive sculptures and features and farther from the entrance retail. Somewhere in 4th ward.

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CLTProductions City

CLTProductions

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It depends. I'm not sure many people could pick out landmarks in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, LA, etc. I'd be curious to know if many people know the arch is in St. Louis. Or the space needle is in Seattle.

I'd like to see a significant, very large sculpture of Queen Charlotte in downtown somewhere. Maybe a park that's sort of like a maze with with lots of flowers and landscaping with the sculpture in the middle or something :) I think that'd be cool.

Maybe a museum in the shape of a royal castle with A large statue of Charlotte set back from the street with a large plaza, water features and lots of flowers and interactive sculptures and features and farther from the entrance retail. Somewhere in 4th ward.

Philly has the Liberty Bell, LA has the Hollywood sign and the US Bank tower is pretty recognizable. And to be honest, I didn't even know what the Queen Charlotte statue at the airport looked like, or even where it is, so I wouldn't count that.

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nonillogical Burg

nonillogical

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I'm not sure it's quite landmark status the way you describe, but I could see it reaching the level of something like the "Love" sculpture in Philly: The Firebird.

I agree, its one of the only things I can think of in Charlotte that at all times has someone getting their picture taken in front of it. The big skull sculpture that was on the Green for a few months (by the same artist Niki de Saint Phalle) was maybe even more memorable, too bad it was a temporary exhibition. The Bechtler building itself is very iconic too but I don't think its had the same level of notoriety as those sculptures.

 

I've always thought our skyline kind of was our greatest landmark since its pretty unique and recognizable for a mid-sized US city, and the DEC is definitely the new star there. 

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15895 City

15895

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I feel like the majority of cities don't have landmarks that are recognizable to the general population.

Yeah, I didn't know Liberty Bell was in Philly. Nor did I know Hollywood was in LA (I obviously did know it was around a larger CA city).

I feel like the only landmarks only a moron wouldn't know about is the white house and all the Washington monuments, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Central Park, Willis Tower, Las Vegas strip are located at.

Other than that, I think people will 100% recognize golden gate bridge, St. Louis arch, Seattle space needle but I doubt most people know which city they're located in.

Dallas has that dandelion overlook thing and I would be very surprised if anyone really outside of Dallas knew about it.

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ah59396 Town

ah59396

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Yeah, I didn't know Liberty Bell was in Philly. Nor did I know Hollywood was in LA (I obviously did know it was around a larger CA city).

I feel like the only landmarks only a moron wouldn't know about is the white house and all the Washington monuments, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Central Park, Willis Tower, Las Vegas strip are located at.

Other than that, I think people will 100% recognize golden gate bridge, St. Louis arch, Seattle space needle but I doubt most people know which city they're located in.

Dallas has that dandelion overlook thing and I would be very surprised if anyone really outside of Dallas knew about it.

 

 

I have a really hard time believing people wouldn't know where the golden gate bridge, the space needle or the Arch are.

I agree, its one of the only things I can think of in Charlotte that at all times has someone getting their picture taken in front of it. The big skull sculpture that was on the Green for a few months (by the same artist Niki de Saint Phalle) was maybe even more memorable, too bad it was a temporary exhibition. The Bechtler building itself is very iconic too but I don't think its had the same level of notoriety as those sculptures.

 

I've always thought our skyline kind of was our greatest landmark since its pretty unique and recognizable for a mid-sized US city, and the DEC is definitely the new star there. 

 

 

That skull was a favorite of mine.  Big time.  I was very sad to see it go.

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Miesian Corners City

Miesian Corners

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We do have a pretty distinct skyline.  I've always thought that was our signature.  And the BofA Corporate Center is Pelli's American masterpiece; it's iconic and looks as good today as it did the day it opened.  But let's be honest, we're geeks--most of the general public have no idea Charlotte exists, nor could they pick out the Dallas skyline over that of Houston.  

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We do have a pretty distinct skyline.  I've always thought that was our signature.  And the BofA Corporate Center is Pelli's American masterpiece; it's iconic and looks as good today as it did the day it opened.  But let's be honest, we're geeks--most of the general public have no idea Charlotte exists, nor could they pick out the Dallas skyline over that of Houston.  

I really think our landmark is and will always be BofA Corporate Center. It's our Empire State Building. I remember there was a thread almost identical to this in 2007 or 2008 and the unequivocal answer was BofA, its amazing that after "The Power Tower" was built that it has became a serious contender. However to me BofACC represents the rise of this city, and is a shining example of iconic architecture. 

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ah59396 Town

ah59396

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Yeah, BOA was kind of what I was thinking as well.  I'd read somewhere else that the Charlotte Motor Speedway was our landmark and that kind of made me cringe.

 

 

I will say, if this ended up in Uptown, I think it would have been something that really set us apart.

 

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Urbanity Burg

Urbanity

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Most people I know (who are not urban geeks) can recognize Dallas (with the Reunion Tower) Seattle, Philadelphia, L.A. and even Atlanta (at least midtown/downtown)  by their skylines mainly because they been in tv shows/movies for so long.  Also because there is at least one signature structure that is central to their skylines (or photos of it) that "says" the city when people see it -  thus the original point of this thread. 

 

Many U.S. cities have incredible and even gorgeous skylines but they don't have anything that sticks out in most people's mind as signature/landmark.   Some of the major cities that in my opinion would fail the general public "name the city" by skyline alone shot are Portland, San Diego, Phoenix, Denver (unless taken with Rockies clear in background), Austin, Houston (risky choice I know - but I think though massive it's bland), Kansas City (though people I think would recognize the Liberty Memorial - just not the skyline) , Minneapolis, Ft. Lauderdale, Jacksonville, and Tampa.

 

Charlotte I think is somewhere in the middle.  I think our skyline is lucky that it has a two particular towers (BoA and Duke) that are both somewhat recognizable (and less just boxy skyscraper) anchor different sides of the skyline and give it a uniqueness.  Unfortunately I don't think Charlotte is enough in the national pyshe that the skyline is ingrained as others.

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Most people I know (who are not urban geeks) can recognize Dallas (with the Reunion Tower) Seattle, Philadelphia, L.A. and even Atlanta (at least midtown/downtown)  by their skylines mainly because they been in tv shows/movies for so long.  Also because there is at least one signature structure that is central to their skylines (or photos of it) that "says" the city when people see it -  thus the original point of this thread. 

 

Many U.S. cities have incredible and even gorgeous skylines but they don't have anything that sticks out in most people's mind as signature/landmark.   Some of the major cities that in my opinion would fail the general public "name the city" by skyline alone shot are Portland, San Diego, Phoenix, Denver (unless taken with Rockies clear in background), Austin, Houston (risky choice I know - but I think though massive it's bland), Kansas City (though people I think would recognize the Liberty Memorial - just not the skyline) , Minneapolis, Ft. Lauderdale,  and Tampa.

 

Charlotte I think is somewhere in the middle.  I think our skyline is lucky that it has a two particular towers (BoA and Duke) that are both somewhat recognizable (and less just boxy skyscraper) anchor different sides of the skyline and give it a uniqueness.  Unfortunately I don't think Charlotte is enough in the national pyshe that the skyline is ingrained as others.

I Feel like Minneapolis and Denver (less so) might not belong... to me they have very very recognizable skylines. Minneapolis is very unique, Denver has the mountains.

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Urbanity Burg

Urbanity

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I Feel like Minneapolis and Denver (less so) might not belong... to me they have very very recognizable skylines. Minneapolis is very unique, Denver has the mountains.

Fair point.  The Capella tower sticks out  and is unique particularly at night.   I also edited my post re: Denver and Mountains as I agree.

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